SpaceX's achievements include the first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket (Falcon 1) to reach orbit on 28 September 2008;[4] the first privately funded company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft (Dragon) on 9 December 2010; and the first private company to send a spacecraft (Dragon) to the International Space Station on 25 May 2012.[5] The launch of SES-8, on 3 December 2013, was the first SpaceX delivery into geosynchronous orbit.

In order to control quality and costs, SpaceX designs, tests and fabricates the majority of its components in-house, including the Merlin, Kestrel, and Draco rocket engines used on the Falcon launch vehicles and the Dragon spacecraft. This has allowed SpaceX to offer one of the lowest launch prices in the industry and to significantly reduce conventional rocket development time.[citation needed]. In November 2013, the French company Arianespace which is the market leader in commercial launches, said that it would take a flexible approach to pricing for the "lighter satellites" it carries to geostationary orbits aboard its Ariane 5 because of competition from SpaceX.[6]

In 2006, NASA awarded the company a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract to design and demonstrate a launch system to resupply cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX, as of January 2015 has flown five missions to the ISS under a cargo resupply contract.[7] NASA has also awarded SpaceX a contract to develop and demonstrate a human-rated Dragon as part of its Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program to transport crew to the ISS. SpaceX is planning its first crewed Dragon/Falcon 9 flight in 2016, when it expects to have a fully certified, human-rated launch escape system incorporated into the spacecraft. Besides NASA contracts, SpaceX has signed contracts with private sector companies, non-American government agencies and the American military for its launch services, filling a growing launch manifest. As of February 2015, it has already launched 15 Falcon 9 rockets with 14 successes and one partial failure, and has at least 30 planned future launches for clients.[8]

SpaceX was founded in June 2002 by PayPal and Tesla Motors co-founder Elon Musk, because he wanted to do more with his wealth than just retire or do philanthropy, and cheap reliable access to space was a market opportunity that could be exploited in the United States. His vision was to build a simple and relatively inexpensive reusable rocket that would go into space multiple times, similar to the turn around time capabilities that commercial airliners currently exhibit. By March 2006, Musk had invested US$100 million of his own money into the company.[9]

On 4 August 2008, SpaceX accepted a further $20 million investment from the Founders Fund.[10] In early 2012, approximately two-thirds of the company was owned by its founder[11] and his 70 million shares were then estimated to be worth $875 million on private markets,[12] which roughly valued SpaceX at $1.3 billion as of February 2012.[13] After the COTS 2+ flight in May 2012, the company private equity valuation nearly doubled to $2.4 billion.[14][15]

In 2012, an initial public offering (IPO) was perceived as possible by the end of 2013,[16] but then Musk stated in June 2013 that he planned to hold off any potential IPO until after the "Mars Colonial Transporter is flying regularly,"[17] and this was reiterated in 2015 indicating that it would be many years before SpaceX would become a publicly-traded company.[18]

The company has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2002, growing from 160 employees in November 2005 to more than 500 by July 2008, to over 1,100 in 2010,[19][20] 1800 in early 2012,[21] and 3000 by early 2013.[22] By October 2013, the company had grown to 3,800 employees and contractors.[23]

On 16 June 2009, SpaceX announced the opening of its Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance Department. It hired former NASA astronaut Ken Bowersox to oversee the department as a vice president of the company.[25] However, it has since been reported that the former astronaut subsequently left SpaceX in late 2011. No reason was given and no replacement in that position has been announced.[26]

Currently, the CEO is Elon Musk and the President and COO is Gwynne Shotwell.[27]

As of May 2012[update], SpaceX had operated on total funding of approximately $1 billion in its first ten years of operation. Of this, private equity provided about $200M, with Musk investing approximately $100M and other investors having put in about $100M (Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, ...).[29] The remainder has come from progress payments on long-term launch contracts and development contracts. As of April 2012[update], NASA had put in about $400–500M of this amount, with most of that as progress payments on launch contracts.[30] By May 2012, SpaceX had contracts for 40 launch missions, and each of those contracts provide down payments at contract signing, plus many are paying progress payments as launch vehicle components are built in advance of mission launch, driven in part by US accounting rules for recognizing long-term revenue.[30]

In August 2012, SpaceX signed a large development contract with NASA to design and develop a crew-carrying space capsule for the "next generation of U.S. human spaceflight capabilities", in order to re-enable the launch of astronauts from U.S. soil by 2017. Two other companies, Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corporation, received similar development contracts. Advances made by all three companies under Space Act Agreements through NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative are intended to ultimately lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for both government and commercial customers. As part of this agreement, SpaceX was awarded a contract worth up to $440 million for contract deliverables between 2012 and May 2014.[31][32]

At year-end 2012, SpaceX had over 40 launches on its manifest representing about $4 billion in contract revenue—with many of those contracts already making progress payments to SpaceX—with both commercial and government (NASA/DOD) customers.[33] As of December 2013[update], SpaceX has a total of 50 future launches under contract, two-thirds of them are for commercial customers.[34][35] In late 2013, space industry media began to comment on the phenomenon that SpaceX prices are undercutting the major competitors in the commercial commsat launch market—the Ariane 5 and Proton[36]—at which time SpaceX had at least 10 further geostationary orbit flights on its books.[35]

In January 2015, SpaceX raised $1 billion in funding from Google and Fidelity, in exchange for 8.333% of the company, establishing the company valuation at approximately $12 billion. Google and Fidelty join the then current investorship group of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners and Capricorn.[37][38] Although the investment was thought to be related to SpaceX's launch of a satellite construction business and global satellite internet service effort,[39]Gwynne Shotwell said in March 2015 that the investment was not specifically for the global internet project.[40] Google had been searching for a satellite internet partner since the split with O3b and OneWeb.[41]

Musk believes the high prices of other space-launch services are driven in part by unnecessary bureaucracy. He has stated that one of his goals is to improve the cost and reliability of access to space, ultimately by a factor of ten.[42] SpaceX became the first private company to both successfully launch and return a spacecraft from orbit on 8 December 2010, after its Dragon capsule returned from a two-orbit flight.[43]Space Foundation recognized SpaceX for its successful Dragon launch and recovery with the Space Achievement Award in 2011.[44]

At various conferences, SpaceX has revealed concept slides for future engine, stage, and launch vehicle designs. Development of these designs would be predicated on demand for increased performance. Company plans in 2004 called for "development of a heavy lift product and even a super-heavy, if there is customer demand" with each size increase resulting in a significant decrease in cost per pound to orbit. CEO Elon Musk said: "I believe $500 per pound ($1,100/kg) or less is very achievable."[45]

SpaceX plans to launch its first crew occupied spacecraft, its "Dragon", in a test flight by 2017.[46] Elon Musk has stated the personal goal of eventually enabling human exploration and settlement of Mars.[47] He stated in a 2011 interview that he hopes to send humans to Mars' surface within 10–20 years.[47] In June 2013, Musk used the descriptor Mars Colonial Transporter to refer to the privately fundeddevelopment project to design and build a spaceflight system of rocket engines, launch vehicles and space capsules to transporthumans to Mars and return to Earth,[17] and the new SpaceX launch facility at Boca Chica TX uses Mars-themed names for the real estate packages.[48] In March 2014, COO Gwynne Shotwell said that once the Falcon Heavy and Dragon v2 crew version are flying, the focus for the company engineering team will be on developing the technology to support the transport infrastructure necessary for Mars missions.[49] In January 2015, Musk said that he hoped to release details of the "completely new architecture" for the Mars transport system in late 2015.[50]

In January 2015, SpaceX announced it would be entering the satellite production business and global satellite internet business. The satellite factory would be located in Seattle, Washington. The internet service would use a constellation of 4000 satellites in 1100km orbits, and start operations in 2020. The goal of the business is to increase profitability and cashflow, to allow SpaceX to build its Mars colony.[18]

Future products that are in development include the Falcon Heavy launch system, a full set of reusable launch vehicle technologies intended for use on both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, and a new liquid-methane-basedrocket engine. The Falcon Heavy is based on Falcon 9 technology, and when completed, it will be the most powerful rocket in the world since the Apollo-era Saturn V. Falcon Heavy can be used to send a crewed Dragon spacecraft on lunar orbiting missions – such as the Apollo 8 mission; or be used to send a modified unpiloted Dragon on a Mars landing mission.[51] Musk has stated that his intention for the company is to help in the creation of a permanent human presence on Mars.

SpaceX Headquarters is located in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne at 1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, California. The large facility, formerly used to build Boeing 747 fuselages, houses SpaceX's office space, mission control, and vehicle factory. The area has one of the largest concentrations of aerospace headquarters, facilities, and/or subsidiaries in the U.S., including Boeing/McDonnell Douglas main satellite building campuses, Raytheon, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lockheed Martin, BAE, Northrop Grumman, and AECOM, etc., with a large pool of aerospace engineers and recent college engineering graduates.[52]

SpaceX utilizes a high degree of vertical integration in the production of its rockets and rocket engines. Unusual for the aerospace industry, SpaceX builds its rocket engines, rocket stages, spacecraft, principal avionics and all software in-house in their Hawthorne facility. Nevertheless, SpaceX still has over 3000 suppliers with some 1100 of those delivering to SpaceX nearly weekly.[53]

SpaceX has regional offices in Houston, Texas; Chantilly, Virginia; and Washington, D.C.[55] and opened an office in the Seattle region in 2014 from which it is heavily recruiting engineers and software developers.[56]

The company purchased the McGregor, Texas, testing facilities of defunct Beal Aerospace, where it refitted the largest test stand at the facilities for Falcon 9 engine testing. SpaceX has made a number of improvements to the facility since purchase, and has also extended the size of the facility by purchasing several pieces of adjacent farmland. In 2011, the company announced plans to upgrade the facility for launch testing a VTVL rocket,[57] and then constructed a half-acre concrete launch facility in 2012 to support the Grasshopper test flight program.[58]

SpaceX McGregor engine test bunker, September 2012

SpaceX builds all of its rocket engines and thrusters at its main facility in Hawthorne, CA where the largest SpaceX campus is located, and where most of the high-technology components are engineered. A test facility in McGregor, TX is one of the secondary locations where the company tests each new engine off of the assembly line, as well as those being developed for future missions to orbit and beyond"[59] before each one can be used on a flight mission. As of October 2012[update], the McGregor facility has seven test stands that are operated "18 hours a day, six days a week"[59] and is building more test stands because production is ramping up and the company has a large manifest in the next several years.

The Dragon spacecraft, following use on a space mission, splashdown and recovery, are shipped to McGregor for de-fueling, cleanup, and refurbishment for potential reuse in future flight missions.

In May 2013, SpaceX announced that the high-altitude, high-velocity flight test program of the F9R Development vehicles—the second generation of the SpaceX experimental VTVL suborbital technology-demonstrator—would be conducted at Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico. SpaceX signed a three-year lease with the spaceport.[60][61] and has constructed a 30 by 30 metres (98 ft × 98 ft) pad at Spaceport America, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) southwest of the spaceport's main campus. It will lease the pad for US$6,600 per month plus US$25,000 per Grasshopper flight. The spaceport administrator expects SpaceX to be operational at the Spaceport sometime between October 2013 and February 2014, and that is the time that the lease payments will begin.[61][62]

Cape Canaveral space launch complex 40 (SLC-40) was used to launch Falcon 9 into low-earth and geostationary orbits, while Vandenberg AFB SLC-4E was used for payloads to polar orbits. The Vandenberg site has also been intended for Falcon Heavy launches, potentially starting in 2015.[citation needed]

The proposed location for the new commercial-mission-only spaceport is in south Texas near Brownsville.[69] The FAA released the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Texas facility in April 2013, and "found that 'no impacts would occur' that would force the Federal Aviation Administration to deny SpaceX a permit for rocket operations,"[70][70] and issued the permit in July 2014.[71] SpaceX expects to start construction on the new launch facility no earlier than 2014, with the first launches from the facility no earlier than 2016.[72] Real estate packages at the location have been named by SpaceX with names based on the theme "Mars Crossing."[48]

As of December 2013[update], SpaceX has entered negotiations to lease Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, following NASA's decision to lease the unused complex out as part of a bid to reduce annual operation and maintenance costs.[73] The SpaceX bid is for exclusive use of the launch complex to support their future crewed missions. A competing bid for commercial use of the launch complex was submitted by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, who was bidding for a shared non-exclusive use of the complex such that the launchpad can interface with multiple vehicles, and costs can be shared over the long term. One potential shared user in the Blue Origin notional plan was United Launch Alliance.[74]

On 18 August 2006, NASA announced that SpaceX had won a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract to demonstrate cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS) with a possible option for crew transport.[75] This contract, designed by NASA to provide "seed money" for developing new boosters, paid SpaceX $278 million to develop the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, with incentive payments paid at milestones culminating in three demonstration launches.[76] In December 2008 SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation each won a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract. That of SpaceX is for at least 12 missions for $1.6 billion to carry supplies and cargo to and from the ISS.[77] On 9 December 2010, the launch of the COTS Demo Flight 1 mission, SpaceX became the first privately funded company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.

The original NASA contract called for the COTS Demo Flight 1 to occur the second quarter of 2008;[78] this flight was delayed several times, occurring at 15:43 UTC on 8 December 2010.[79] Dragon was successfully deployed into orbit, circling the Earth twice, and then made a controlled reentry burn that put it on target for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico.[80] With Dragon's safe recovery, SpaceX become the first private company to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft; prior to this mission, only government agencies had been able to recover orbital spacecraft.[80]

According to the original schedule, in COTS Demo Flight 2 the Dragon spacecraft would make its second flight and would rendezvous with the ISS but not be berthed. The third flight would see Dragon being berthed to the ISS.[78] However, after the success of the first mission, NASA conditionally agreed on 15 July 2011 that the two flights would be combined, and the next Dragon mission was to have Dragon being berthed with the ISS.[81] On 9 December 2011, NASA formally approved the merger of the COTS 2 and 3 missions into the COTS 2 flight, but yet again delayed the tentative launch date by another month to 7 February 2012.[82] However, on 16 January 2012, SpaceX announced it needed more time for engineering tests, and postponed the launch date again, with no replacement date initially announced.[83] On 19 May at approximately 4:55AM EDT the launch for the COTS 2+ mission was automatically aborted when the pressure in one of the engine chambers was higher than expected. The COTS Demo Flight 2 launch was postponed to 22 May 2012, at which point it succeeded in putting the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. Several days later, the Dragon capsule successfully berthed with the International Space Station, marking the first time that a private spacecraft had accomplished this feat.[84][85]

SpaceX is planning a crewed Dragon/Falcon 9 flight in future years when it expects to have a fully certified, human-rated launch escape system incorporated into the spacecraft.[86] NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program intends to develop commercially operated manned spacecraft that are capable of delivering crew to the ISS. SpaceX did not participate during the first round, however during the second round of the program NASA awarded SpaceX with a contract worth $75 million to further develop their launch escape system, test a crew accommodations mock-up and to further progress the Falcon 9/Dragon crew transportation design.[87][88] SpaceX later submitted a proposal for the third round of the CCDev program which became Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap).[89]

On August 3, 2012, NASA announced new agreements with SpaceX and two other companies to design and develop the next generation of U.S. human spaceflight capabilities, enabling a launch of astronauts from U.S. soil in the next five years. Advances made by these companies under newly signed Space Act Agreements through the agency's CCiCap initiative are intended to ultimately lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers. As part of this agreement, SpaceX was awarded $440 million, to continue development and testing of its Dragon V2 spacecraft.[90]

On September 16, 2014, NASA chose SpaceX and Boeing as the two companies that will be funded to develop systems to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station. SpaceX won $2.6B to complete and certify Crew Dragon spacecraft by 2017. (Boeing won $4.2B to complete and certify their CST-100.) The contracts include at least one crewed flight test with at least one NASA astronaut aboard. Once Crew Dragon achieves NASA certification, the contract requires SpaceX to conduct at least two, and as many as six, crewed missions to the space station.[91]

In addition to SpaceX's privately funded plans for an eventual Mars mission, as of July 2011[update] NASA Ames Research Center had developed a concept for a low-cost Mars mission that would use Falcon Heavy as the launch vehicle and trans-Martian injection vehicle, and the Dragon capsule to enter the Martian atmosphere. The concept, called 'Red Dragon', would be proposed for funding in 2012/2013 as a NASA Discovery mission, for launch in 2018 and arrival at Mars several months later. The science objectives of the mission would be to look for evidence of life — detecting "molecules that are proof of life, like DNA or perchlorate reductase ... proof of life through biomolecules. ... Red Dragon would drill 1.0 meter (3.3 ft) or so underground, in an effort to sample reservoirs of water ice known to lurk under the red dirt." The mission cost was projected to be less than $425,000,000, not including the launch cost.[92][dated info]

On 2 May 2005, SpaceX announced that it had been awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for Responsive Small Spacelift (RSS) launch services by the United States Air Force, which could allow the Air Force to purchase up to $100 million worth of launches from the company.[93] On 22 April 2008, NASA announced that it had awarded an IDIQ Launch Services contract to SpaceX for Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launches. The contract will be worth up to $1 billion, depending on the number of missions awarded. The contract covers launch services ordered by 30 June 2010, for launches through December 2012.[94] Musk stated in the same 2008 announcement that SpaceX has sold 14 contracts for flights on the various Falcon vehicles.[94]

SpaceX announced on 15 March 2010 that it would launch SES-8, a medium-sized communications satellite for SES, on a Falcon 9 vehicle, and it was successfully launched on 3 December 2013.[96] SES was SpaceX's first contract for a geostationary communications satellite launch.[35][96] In June 2010, SpaceX was awarded the largest-ever commercial space launch contract, worth $492 million, to launch Iridium satellites using Falcon 9 rockets.[97]

SpaceX's low launch prices, especially for communication satellites flying to geostationary (GTO) orbit, have resulted in market pressure on its competitors to lower their own prices. The communications satellites launch market had been dominated in the years preceding 2013 by Europe'sArianespace (flying Ariane 5) and International Launch Services (ILS) (flying Russia's Proton vehicle).[98] By late 2013, with a published price of US$56.5 million per launch to low Earth orbit, "Falcon 9 rockets [were] already the cheapest in the industry. Reusable Falcon 9s could drop the price by an order of magnitude, sparking more space-based enterprise, which in turn would drop the cost of access to space still further through economies of scale."[99]

SpaceX capabilities and prices are affecting the global market considerably. Arianespace requested in early 2014 that European governments provide additional subsidies to face the competition from SpaceX.[100] European satellite operators are pushing the ESA to reduce Ariane 5 and the future Ariane 6 rocket launch prices as a result of competition from SpaceX.[101] By November 2014, space media reported that SpaceX had "already begun to take market share" from Arianespace.[102] In 2014, Falcon 9 GTO mission pricing was approximately US$15 million less than a launch on a ChineseLong March 3B,[103] somewhat lower than Long March prices. However, the Chinese Government and the Great Wall Industry company—which markets the Long March for commsat missions—made a policy decision to maintain commsat launch prices at approximately US$70 million.[104] SpaceX capabilities and lower launch prices have also begun to affect the market for launch of US military payloads, where for nearly a decade the large US launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) had faced no competition for the military launches.[105] In October 2014 ULA announced a major restructuring of processes and workforce in order to decrease launch costs by half, in part as a result of competition from SpaceX.[106][107]

When the final numbers were in for 2014, SpaceX had won nine contracts out of 20 that were competed worldwide in 2014 at commercial launch service providers.[108] This was the first year in some time that no commercial launches were booked on the Russian (Proton) and Russian-Ukrainian (Zenit) launch service providers.[108] SpaceX launched their first communication satellite to geosynchronous orbit only in late 2013.

SpaceX has publicly indicated that if they are successful with developing the reusable technology, launch prices in the US$5 to 7 million range for the reusable Falcon 9 are possible.[109]

As of January 2013[update], SpaceX has a purely commercial launch manifest of "23 missions scheduled over the next 4 years, exclusive of US government flights, Dragonlab flights and the anticipated demo flight for Falcon Heavy"—of a total of 40 flights scheduled through 2017.[110] "Somewhat incongruously, its primary US competitor, United Launch Alliance, still maintains that it requires a large annual subsidy, which neither SpaceX nor Orbital Sciences receives, in order to remain financially viable, with the reason cited as a lack of market opportunity, a stance which seems to be in conflict with the market itself."[110]

On 3 December 2013 SpaceX launched its first satellite into geostationary orbit, SES-8, entering the major commercial launch market.[35] SpaceX prices undercut its major competitors, the Ariane 5 and Proton, in this market,[36] and SpaceX has at least 10 further geostationary orbit flights on its books.[35] Moreover, SpaceX prices for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are much lower than the projected prices for the new Ariane 5 ME upgrade and its Ariane 6 successor, projected to be available in 2018 and 2021, respectively.[111] As of December 2013[update], SpaceX has a total of 50 future launches under contract, two-thirds of them are for commercial customers.[34]

SpaceX is however making a concerted effort to be able to make competitive bids for US military launches of EELV-class payloads. If the government opens up launches to competition, the earliest EELV launches that could be contracted with SpaceX as of March 2014[update] would be in late 2016.[112]

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft, lifts off during the COTS Demo Flight 1 on 8 December 2010.

SpaceX is currently manufacturing two main space launch vehicles: the large Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)-class Falcon 9[citation needed] , which flew successfully into orbit on its maiden launch on 4 June 2010[113] and the super-heavy class Falcon Heavy, which is scheduled to make its first flight in 2015. SpaceX also manufactures the Dragon, a pressurized orbital spacecraft that is launched on top of a Falcon 9 booster to carry cargo to low-Earth orbit, and the follow-on Dragon V2 spacecraft, currently in the process of being human-rated through a variety of design reviews and flight tests that began in 2014.[114][115]

It formerly built and flew the Falcon 1 launch vehicle, which made its first successful flight on 28 September 2008,[113][116]

A Falcon 5 and Falcon 9 Air launcher were also planned, but development was stopped on both vehicles before hardware was manufactured, in favor of pursuing development on other launch vehicles.[117]

SpaceX has flown, or is developing, several orbital launch vehicles: the Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy. As of 2014, the Falcon 9 v1.1 is currently in active use and the Falcon Heavy is under development.

The Falcon 1 was a small rocket capable of placing several hundred kilograms into low earth orbit.[113] It functioned as an early test-bed for developing concepts and components for the larger Falcon 9.[113] Falcon 1 made five flights in 2006–2009. On 28 September 2008, the Falcon 1 succeeded in reaching orbit on its fourth attempt, becoming the first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket to do so.[118] The Falcon 1 carried its first successful commercial payload, RazakSAT, into orbit on 13 July 2009, on its fifth launch.[119] SpaceX has now retired the Falcon 1 and transferred Falcon 1 class payloads to be secondary payloads on the Falcon 9, which proved to be more efficient.

The Falcon 9 is an EELV-class medium-lift vehicle capable of delivering up to 10,450 kilograms (23,000 lb) to orbit, and is intended to compete with the Delta IV and the Atlas V rockets, as well as other launch providers around the world. It has nine Merlin engines in its first stage.[120] The Falcon 9 rocket successfully reached orbit on its first attempt in June 2010. The second flight for the Falcon 9 vehicle was the COTS Demo Flight 1 on 8 December 2010, the first launch under the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract, and was similarly successful.[94] Its third flight, COTS Demo Flight 2, launched on 22 May 2012, and was the first commercial spacecraft to reach and dock with the International Space Station.[121] Further launches have continued through 2013 and 2014 with a total of 15 launches completed by January 2015.

In 2005, SpaceX announced plans to pursue a human-rated commercial space program through the end of the decade.[126] The Dragon spacecraft is intended to carry up to seven astronauts into orbit and beyond.[127] It is a conventional blunt-cone ballistic capsule, which is capable of carrying 7 people or a mixture of personnel and cargo to and from low Earth orbit.[127] It is launched atop a Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The spacecraft's nosecone is jettisoned shortly after launch in the cargo version, but is expected to be kept during the full flight of the crewed version.

In 2006, NASA announced that the company was one of two selected to provide crew and cargo resupply demonstration contracts to the ISS under the COTS program.[128] SpaceX demonstrated cargo resupply and eventually crew transportation services using the Dragon.[121] NASA's original plan called for COTS demonstration flights between 2008 and 2010.[129][130] SpaceX was not able to meet that schedule, but eventually began test-flights in 2010.

The first flight of a Dragon structural test article took place 4 June 2010, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station during the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle; the mock-up Dragon lacked avionics, heat shield, and other key elements normally required of a fully operational spacecraft but contained all the necessary characteristics to validate the flight performance of the launch vehicle.[131] An operational Dragon spacecraft was launched on 8 December 2010 aboard COTS Demo Flight 1, the Falcon 9's second flight, and safely returned to Earth after two orbits, completing all its mission objectives.[114] In 2012, Dragon began conducting regular resupply services to the ISS with a contract for 12 flights.

In 2009 and 2010, Musk suggested on several occasions that plans for a human-rated variant of Dragon were proceeding and had a 2- to 3-year time line to completion.[132][133] On 18 April 2011, NASA issued a $75 million contract, as part of its second-round commercial crew development (CCDev) program, for SpaceX to develop an integrated launch escape system for Dragon in preparation for human-rating it as a crew transport vehicle to the ISS.[134] This Space Act Agreement runs from April 2011 until May 2012, when the next round of contracts are to be awarded.[134] NASA approved the technical plans for the system in October 2011, and SpaceX began building prototype hardware.[86][dated info]

In 2012, Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.[121] SpaceX delivered cargo to the ISS in March 2013 and again in April 2014.[135]

DragonFly is a test vehicle to develop propulsive and propulsive-assist landing technologies in a series of low-altitude flight tests planned to be conducted in 2014–2015.[136]

A major goal of SpaceX has been to develop a rapidly reusable launch system. As of March 2013[update], the publicly announced aspects of this technology development effort include an active test campaign of the low-altitude, low-speed Grasshoppervertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) technology demonstrator rocket,.[57][58][137] and a high-altitude, high-speed Falcon 9 post-mission booster return test campaign where—beginning in mid-2013, with the sixth overall flight of Falcon 9—every first stage will be instrumented and equipped as a controlled descent test vehicle to accomplish propulsive-return over-water tests.[138] SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell said at the Singapore Satellite Industry Forum in summer 2013 "If we get this [reusable technology] right, and we’re trying very hard to get this right, we’re looking at launches to be in the US$5 to 7 million range, which would really change things dramatically."[109]

SpaceX has announced the high-level description of a future super-heavy lift launch vehicle that will consist of one or three 10-meter (33 ft)-diameter cores and use nine RaptorLOX/methane engines to power each core.[139][140][141] The MCT launch vehicle is also intended to be reusable and will produce approximately 40 or 120 meganewtons (9,000,000 or 27,000,000 lbf) of thrust at liftoff.[140] Development of the Mars Colonial Transporter and its super-heavy launch vehicle will be the major focus of SpaceX once Falcon Heavy and DragonCrew are flying regularly.[141]

Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX for use on its Falcon rocket family of launch vehicles. Merlin engines use LOX and RP-1 as propellants in a gas-generator power cycle. The Merlin engine was originally designed for sea recovery and reuse. The injector at the heart of Merlin is of the pintle type that was first used in the Apollo Program for the lunar module landing engine. Propellants are fed via a single shaft, dual impeller turbo-pump. Kestrel is a LOX/RP-1 pressure-fed rocket engine, and was used as the Falcon 1 rocket's second stage main engine. It was built around the same pintle architecture as SpaceX's Merlin engine but does not have a turbo-pump, and is fed only by tank pressure. Its nozzle was ablatively cooled in the chamber and throat and radiatively cooled, and is fabricated from a high strength niobium alloy.

SpaceX has signalled on multiple occasions that it is interested in developing much larger engines than it has done to date. A conceptual plan for the Raptor project was first unveiled in a June 2009 AIAA presentation.[144] In November 2012, Musk announced a new direction for propulsion side of the company: developing methane/LOX rocket engines for launch vehicle main and upper stages.[145] The Raptor methane/LOX engine will use the more efficient staged combustion cycle,[146] a departure from the "'open cycle' gas generator cycle system and LOX/kerosene propellants that the current Merlin 1 engine series uses."[146] The rocket would be more powerful than previously released publicly, with over 1,000,000 lbf (4,400 kN) of thrust.[139] Raptor engine component-level testing will begin in 2014.[147] The Raptor engine will likely be the first in a family of methane-based engines SpaceX intends to build.[147]

^de Selding, Peter B. (2013-11-25). "SpaceX Challenge Has Arianespace Rethinking Pricing Policies". Space News. Retrieved 2013-11-27. The Arianespace commercial launch consortium is telling its customers it is open to reducing the cost of flights for lighter satellites on the Ariane 5 rocket in response to the challenge posed by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

^Messier, Doug (16 October 2013). "ISPCS Morning Session: Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX". Retrieved 7 December 2013. Gwynne Shotwell says that SpaceX is now up to about 3,800 employees, counting contractors working for the company. ... 600 more people to hire in next couple months. Finding good software people the hardest skills to fill.

^ abEngel, Max (2013-03-01). "Launch Market on Cusp of Change". Satellite Today. Retrieved 2013-02-15. SpaceX is not the first private company to try to break through the commercial space launch market. The company, however, appears to be the real thing. Privately funded, it had a vehicle before it got money from NASA, and while NASA’s space station resupply funds are a tremendous boost, SpaceX would have existed without it.

^Boyle, Alan (5 January 2015). "Coming Soon From SpaceX's Elon Musk: How to Move to Mars". NBC News. Retrieved 8 January 2015. The Mars transport system will be a completely new architecture. Am hoping to present that towards the end of this year. Good thing we didn't do it sooner, as we have learned a huge amount from Falcon and Dragon.

^Amos, Jonathan (2013-12-03). "SpaceX launches SES commercial TV satellite for Asia". BBC News. Retrieved 2013-12-11. The commercial market for launching telecoms spacecraft is tightly contested, but has become dominated by just a few companies - notably, Europe's Arianespace, which flies the Ariane 5, and International Launch Services (ILS), which markets Russia's Proton vehicle. SpaceX is promising to substantially undercut the existing players on price, and SES, the world's second-largest telecoms satellite operator, believes the incumbents had better take note of the California company's capability. 'The entry of SpaceX into the commercial market is a game-changer'

^Petersen, Melody (2014-12-12). "Congress OKs bill banning purchases of Russian-made rocket engines". LA Times. Retrieved 2014-12-14. Costs of launching military satellites has skyrocketed under contracts the Air Force has given to United Launch Alliance. The average cost for each launch using rockets from Boeing and Lockheed has soared to $420 million, according to an analysis by the Government Accountability Office.

^Todd, David (2012-11-20). "Musk goes for methane-burning reusable rockets as step to colonise Mars". FlightGlobal Hyperbola. Retrieved 2012-11-22. "We are going to do methane." Musk announced as he described his future plans for reusable launch vehicles including those designed to take astronauts to Mars within 15 years, "The energy cost of methane is the lowest and it has a slight Isp (Specific Impulse) advantage over Kerosene," said Musk adding, "And it does not have the pain in the ass factor that hydrogen has".

^ abTodd, David (2012-11-22). "SpaceX’s Mars rocket to be methane-fuelled". Flightglobal. Retrieved 2012-12-05. Musk said Lox and methane would be SpaceX’s propellants of choice on a mission to Mars, which has long been his stated goal. SpaceX’s initial work will be to build a Lox/methane rocket for a future upper stage, codenamed Raptor. The design of this engine would be a departure from the “open cycle” gas generator system that the current Merlin 1 engine series uses. Instead, the new rocket engine would use a much more efficient “staged combustion” cycle that many Russian rocket engines use.